Pearl adding officers to patrol new outlet mall

Construction crews working at the Outlets of Mississippi in Pearl are in the home stretch.

PEARL, Miss. -

The Pearl Police Department is adding officers and patrols to cover the new outlet mall that's set to open next month.

The Outlets of Mississippi, which will have 78 stores and about 1,600 employees, is scheduled to open Nov. 14.

Pearl Mayor Brad Rogers said he's not expecting a lot of problems, but the city will be "proactive rather than reactive."

"We are adding police officers for public safety, as well as traffic control, and things of that nature. Quite a few, five or six, will be specific to the mall area. We'll have them uniformed and plain clothes. We'll also add some additional folks to our investigatory units," Rogers said. "Any time you have new shopping coming into your city, of course you're going to have a little bit of small petty crime -- shoplifting and things of that nature. So, we're going to have the investigators ready to roll on that."

The 325,000-square-foot mall will be the largest outlet shopping destination in the state, developers said.

"We have a good proactive Police Department here and we want folks to know when you come shopping in Pearl, you're going to be safe," Rogers said.

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